A strong bond
by Iris of Darkness2113
Summary: Cornelius is left in charge of Cosette, thus strengthening the bond with his little sister. Pre Battle. Baby Cosette.


**By request of SarahMatrix04, I am doing another one! Sweet Jesus! I have to get Cornelius's age figured out. Judging by **_**Battle**_** he seems younger then a teenager. Seeing that the the beginning of Cosette's story he'd be about four or five, I'm not exactly sure how old he is during **_**Battle. **_**I wanted to make Cosette the elder of the two, especially when *SPOILER ALERT!* in **_**Battle**_**, he is killed by Aldo. I wanted Cosette to feel a sense of guilt when it happens, seeing she is older then him, thus in her mind, making her responsible. I'm not sure who to make older and who to make younger at this point though. In this story, Cornelius is clearly the older of the two, so this may mess up what my intent was, but nonetheless, these are just one-shots, centered around the soon to be story, which will be entitled: "Child of two worlds." So by the time the story is uploaded, Cosette may be the older one. But for now, enjoy this nice one-shot! Enjoy SarahMatrix04! POTA does not belong to me nor does the name Cosette. **

"You know what to do?"

"Yes Father."

"You know the signs of when she's hungry, tired, and everything else?"

"Yes Father."

"Good. Now, your mother and I will only be an hour. three at the latest. We just need to check the city for any humans that may need help." And with that, Lisa and Caesar exited the home, leaving Cornelius and their toddler daughter alone. Cornelius was unsure of his abilities to take care of Cosette, but he would do his best. Cosette was just in her early stages of trying to walk, so Cornelius thought he would try to teach her how. "Cosette, come here!" He called. Cosette turned around, smiled, and tried walking to her big brother, but ended up crawling instead. "Come on Cosette, I'm gonna teach you how to walk!" She could stand at least but never get a few steps in without having to go back to crawling. Cosette stared at Cornelius questioningly and blinked in wonder. Cornelius stood up, smiling at his little sister. "Up Cosette, up! You can do it!" Cosette knew very well what "up" meant. It was the word her mother used when getting her to stand up. Cosette also used the word up but in a different way: Whenever she raised her arms, she wanted to be held and carried. (Mainly by Caesar.)

Cosette obeyed Cornelius and stood to her feet. "Good job! Now try to walk to me. Just a little bit though!" Cosette put one foot in front of the other and tried to hard to keep her balance as she wobbled towards Cornelius. Luckily, he was right there as she fell into his arms. "I gotcha! It's alright keep trying!" He backed up a little to give her room for practice walking nodded at his words and continued to wobble and teeter towards him. Cosette was trying her best not to crawl but it seemed so hard! Her legs shook at the unusual feeling of trying to walk but somehow she manged to walk straight to Cornelius with little problems. Cornelius was shocked and amazed. "Cosette! You did it! You walked to me! Can you try it again, only a little farther?"

Cornelius backed up to the kitchen area and allowed Cosette a good distance. Cosette began to wobble once again but was able to regain control of her balance before she could fall and continued towards Cornelius. She reached him this time without stumbling forward. Cornelius continued to help her learn to walk for an hour. After a good hour of this, he fed her lunch. Cosette was still in that phase where she wouldn't touch anything but food that she liked which included: applesauce, mashed up fruit, among other foods. Cornelius decided he would feed her a good portion of applesauce, seeing it was her favorite. After lunch, Cornelius wanted to play with her but didn't know how. Playing with a baby sister is different then playing with older friends after all. He obviously couldn't play any games with her. That is until Cosette took the liberty of climbing onto his back. He ran outside with her on his back, pretending he was an airplane taking her to different places. Some of the older apes laughed at him but Cornelius didn't care. He was having fun with Cosette and that was all that mattered. "Well, look who's out and about!" A voice called. Virgil had been watching for awhile now and came over to greet Cornelius and Cosette. "Hello Virgil! I was just playing with Cosette!" Cornelius said as he put Cosette down. "I can see that." Virgil replied, smiling. He checked how her reflexes were and seemed impressed. "She's doing wonderfully it seems. Is she walking by any chance?" Virgil asked. Cornelius nodded.

"Cosette's doing amazing with her walking! I taught her how to walk a little bit today, so she's getting better." Virgil chuckled. "That's good. I suspect Cosette will be walking perfectly in few more weeks if you continue to teach her. What about talking? Has she spoken at all?" "Nope," Cornelius replied, "Besides saying nonsense all the time, she really hasn't said anything." Cornelius picked Cosette up to hold her for a while. Virgil shrugged. "Sometimes children learn later then others. I have no reason to believe there's something wrong. It seems you two are growing closer to one another. I believe the two closest bonds in this world you can have is, the bond between your parents and the bond between a sibling. There is no greater love then those two." Cornelius agreed one hundred percent. He had loved Cosette since his father brought her home and announced he was going to have a baby sister.

Cosette grew restless in Cornelius's arms and wanted back down. Cornelius saw why. He could see his parents returning in the distance. "Oh Mother and Father are home!" He cried. Cosette clapped her hands and before Cornelius knew it, she stood and began to wobble toward her mother and father, until she wobbled no more. Now she was walking perfectly without any problems. "Caesar?...Is that ...Cosette?!" Lisa cried happily. Caesar squinted. "It couldn't be. She hasn't learned to walk yet!" Caesar replied. But sure enough it was. Cosette walked right into her father's arms. "I don't believe it! Cosette is walking!" Lisa exclaimed laughingly. Cornelius came racing after Cosette, only to realize she was alright. "When did she start walking?!" Caesar asked, still shocked and amazed at what just happened. "I taught her." Cornelius replied, "We tried for an hour and I guess something just clicked!"

"Cosette my darling, you've learned to walk!" Lisa said, kissing her. Cosette blinked, looked at both parents and said: "Mother. Father. 'Nelius." Once again, the family was shocked. Cornelius just took his sister and hugged her.


End file.
